The problem the GOP has, of course, is that things were no better before Obamacare. Most of the criticisms of Obamacare could have been said verbatim about the way things were before. It was always a myth that Obamacare was the cause of things that were already the case. Obamacare simply added 20 million or so people to the ranks of the "insured." It really didn't change much at all. The crappiness of the service sector, healthcare inflation, large numbers of under-or-uninsured, hospitals closing, all these things were happening BEFORE Obamacare. In all these cases, Obamacare was either beneficial or benign.

On top of that, many states opted out of the program. And many states opted in, and then rigged it to fail. Red and crooked all of them... except one, for a little while, anyway, and it's a sad tale.

Do you guys remember the Democratic response to the Trump speech last week? The reason they used Steve Beshear was because of what he did for Kentucky when he was their governor.

My wife and I have a friend down here who is in her late 30's. She told us last year that her mother was very sick, only 60 or so. Her mother was working class, but lived with a good boyfriend, who had a nice family and she was in good hands. She was going to see her - in Kentucky. When she told me it was Kentucky, I was relieved and told her she was lucky. Kentucky is the success story of Obamacare, showing the concept, used at it's best, could be much better than what we had before. Kentucky, that deep-Red, Southern-proud, coal mining, manly-man of a state, took the ACA and made one of the best healthcare systems in the country. Now, sadly, the new GOP governor there wants to destroy it. It's just sad.

Maybe this little story from my childhood might help illustrate what is wrong with the entire concept of Obamacare:

I was not more than three or four at the time, and one day after Mother had served us lunch of toasted ham and chase sandwiches my placemat had gotten all full of crumbs. Mother asked me please to clean off the placemat.

Well, what do you suppose I did?

I swept all the crumbs off the placemat onto my lap, and then brushed them off into the floor!

Mother was not angry. She just laughed, and then said, "What good did you think you were going to do by doing THAT? All you did was clean one place and dirty another, you silly boy. That's no way to help your mother," and then she laughed some more.

I didn't get it at the time, but soon learned to understand what she meant.

Now, Obamacare is like most of these Utopian schemes dreamt up by leftists. It robs PETER to pay PAUL –– just as my placemat was swept clean in exchange for dirtying the floor.

Yes, a significant number have been helped by Obamacare –– at least temporarily ––, but they've been helped by levying PUNITIVE financial burdens and reduced quality of care on many of the more affluent members of society.

Not only that, Obamacare has GREATLY increased ADMINISTRATIVE costs, and placed an unfair burden on the office staff of innumerable physicians, surgeons, hospitals and laboratories.

You are correct in that the system was struggling before the ACA, but Obamacare has NOT improved the affordability or quality of our medical care at ALL. Not only that the program has already proved itself UNSUSTAINABLE.

The ACA will die a natural death if left intact, and THEN where will we be?

The crux of the matter is finding something much BETTER to REPLACE this inefficient, inequitable mess without harming anyone already dependent on it.

THAT is what President Trump wants to do, and so do most Republican members of congress. It's a VERY knotty problem, I admit, but one that MUST be addressed.

I believe Dr. Tom Price and Dr. Rand Paul among others have EXCELLENT ideas as to how the system could and should be improved.

All insurance is robbing Peter and Paul so that if either of them set sick or hurt, they have a pool of money dedicated to getting better. Insurance, whether private or public, is a socialistic endeavor. That's why having private health insurance, IMHO, just strikes me as pointless profiteering. The "failure" of Obamacare, in this case, was that it used private insurance at all. The best possible pool, in every way you look at it, would simply be everyone.

If we didn't have Medicare, then we'd just have survival of the wealthiest. See how long that goes on before wealthy heads start rolling from the guillotine. There's a reason every other civilized, developed nation on the planet has some kind of universal healthcare, treating it as a right and not just a privilege of wealth.

Well, take real estate, for instance. When you have a nice family home in an area with good healthcare, say in the neighborhood of an excellent hospital, what does that do for the value of real estate? If there are good schools? How about a nearby interstate highway? Good water system? A nice library? A Park or two? Real estate is all about location. But what makes that location create value? Well, as you well know, services make up a lot of it. Socialism, in one form or another, is all around you. There is a time and a place for it. I believe healthcare and education are services we all need and should all contribute to providing. I think America would be an even better place with it. ;)

Yes! IF the graph can be believed, it shows that while ALL costs have risen continually, the cost of college tuition has risen at a far more PRECIPITOUS rate, while the price of HOUSING softened, and dropped alarmingly soon after the passage of that disastrous DODD-FRANK bill.

A Double Whammy for the Middle Class, which has struggled to survive under the Obama Regime and continues to dwindle as more and more former members lapse into poverty.

Housing did not drop after Dodd-Frank. Dodd-Frank was a reaction to the Mortgage Meltdown, not the cause. And while student loan programs could be tied to profiteering, then perhaps the removal of the need to have a loan in the first place would address that.

And while student loan programs could be tied to profiteering, then perhaps the removal of the need to have a loan in the first place would address that.

lol! Cui bono? The US Treasury (as they run ALL student loan programs). Funny how they're not reducing the interest rates given they pay near zero on the bonds they issue... Ah, SALLIE MAE, we barely knew ye!

It’s time to wake up, America and get out there to take our country back. The main objective has already been done, and that was to get RID of that slime-ball who previously occupied the White House and DEFEAT Hillary!

So Obama Wire Tapped Trump Tower... Obama was never someone who would let the Constitution get in the way. The wire tap was completely illegal. This is far worse than what Nixon did. The Nazis and Russians would be impressed b his scheming and skull duggery! And then to talk about “HIS” affairs with the Russians? What Gaul!That was an EXTREME Abuse of his office and is actually a FELONY, and is A Seditious Violation of his Oath of Office to Defend The Constitution and Our Individual Liberties.Obama is about to find out how little power he actually has as an ex president!He now is the first ex president to commit an act of treason by attempting to undermine a duly elected sitting president. Not surprising at all. Go Get em Sessions!!!!!

From what I understand about insurance and the risk pools upon which insurance is based, the only way to make health insurance work is to have an individual mandate. There must be low risk insureds in the pool to keep down the costs of high risk insureds.

Are you saying you support MANDATORY PARTICIPATION in whatever medical care scheme the government devises?

We have no right to claim we are a "Free Country," if we encourage any further devilment of Central Control. We have far too mic of that already.

Participation in ANYTHING must be strictly VOLUNTARY in a "Free Society." If not, it is NOT a "Free Society."

For the record: I am an ardent LIBERTARIAN. That means that FREEDOM trumps SAFETY ninety-nine times out of a hundred.

The overemphasis on Safety and Convenience which besets us today is the result of an increasing FEMINIZATION –– i.e. softening, weakening, –– of society that is part of the deliberate IGNORANTIZATION of the populace. This means we are being goaded into and groomed for PASSIVE ACCEPTANCE of TYRANNY.

FT,Are you saying you support MANDATORY PARTICIPATION in whatever medical care scheme the government devises?

I'm saying that the only way to keep premiums low enough to be reasonable is to have the low risk insureds and the high risk insureds in the same pool!

When the financial burden of the high risk insureds exceeds that of the low risk insureds, the entire system comes down. This is the reality, FT.

Like it or now, medical care and medical treatment are servics that must be paid for somehow. Remember that the medical personnel and the medical facilities need to stay afloat. Otherwise, we are all screwed!

The "Surgeon General" should "recommend" that people not "smoke". Any government involvement in finding a "cure" for lung cancer or treat patients with lung cancer (from smoking) should be "off limits"

I'm not sure that excluding government from helping to fund RESEARCH LABS would be in our best interests. ALTHOUGH most of the great seminal advances were made by brilliant, determined INDIVIDUALS field by their own fervent curiosity and zeal, n'est-ce-pas?

Of course not... but I would kill the "Cancer Moonshot" given how they mucked up cancer research (HeLa cells)... a "history" (from Wiki) NIH's roots extend back to a Marine Hospital Service in the late 1790s that provided medical relief to sick and disabled men in the U.S. Navy. By 1870, a network of marine hospitals had developed and was placed under the charge of a medical officer within the Bureau of the Treasury Department. In the late 1870s, Congress allocated funds to investigate the causes of epidemics like cholera and yellow fever, and it created the National Board of Health, making medical research an official government initiative.[7]

In 1887 a laboratory for the study of bacteria, the Hygienic Laboratory, was established at the Marine Hospital in New York.[8][9] In the early 1900s, Congress began appropriating funds for the Marine Hospital Service. By 1922, this organization changed its name to Public Health Services and established a Special Cancer Investigations laboratory at Harvard Medical School. This marked the beginning of a partnership with universities. In 1930, the Hygienic Laboratory was re-designated as the National Institute of Health by the Ransdell Act and was given $750,000 to construct two NIH buildings. Over the next few decades, Congress would increase its funding tremendously to the NIH, and various institutes and centers within the NIH were created for specific research programs.[10] In 1944, the Public Health Service Act was approved, and National Cancer Institute became a division of NIH. In 1948, the name changed from National Institute of Health to National Institutes of Health.

No more employer-based insurance (with the exception of military service), and the full amount of premiums would be tax deductible for all, without a threshold of percentage of adjusted gross income.

Were it not from employer-based insurance, everyone seeking health insurance would be out there shopping the market.

We all need to understand this about 21st Century health care: diagnostic life-saving scans are expensive, and medical providers (doctors and nurses) need to make a good salary commensurate with their training and the skill level.

I, personally, believe –– after long years of deeply involved observation at close range –– that the virtues of "Modern Medicine" are vastly oversold and even more vastly overrated.

We are fast becoming a nation of HYPOCHONDRIACS –– a people obsessed with a morbid FEAR of ILLNESS much of which I believe to be largely psychogenic in origin. This obsession is CRIPPLING our chances of making GENUINE progress.

Human beings have lived, thrived, sickened, suffered and died for HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of YEARS before "Modern Medicine" became available in its maddeningly limited fashion.

Unrealistic notions of EGALITARIANISM –– i/c/ EVERY LIVING SOUL on EARTH should have EQUAL ACCESS to the very BEST Modern Medicine has to offer regardless of their economic circumstances –– has put us in the terrible bind we are in today.

It may well be the case that because I avoided medical attention for so long (That high deductible!) that I'm in the situation I face right now. You know what my ever-worsening situation is, so I don't have to elaborate.

The above said, I have noticed that those who have gold-plated health insurance -- available so cheaply particularly for any government employee (local, state, or federal employees who have zero deductibles and zero-to-incredibly-low copays) -- populate doctors' offices when they suffer the likes of hangnails. Those people are the hypochondriacs -- and I personally know dozens of them.

Over the years, this household and our employers have paid in nearly $1 million into the health insurance industry. Yet, when Mr. AOW finally got Medicare, his premiums had soared to $900/month, with a $2500 deductible, 70%-30% until $5000 out of pocket, and no prescription coverage! That is unacceptable!

I understand your situation very well, AOW, especially since I've been there, myself, for long years filled with anxiety and dread often accompanied by desperation.

But I am not attempting to address any SPECIFIC cases in this discussion. I am concerned abut the NATION as a WHOLE, and trying to set my sights above my own concerns in hopes of gaining a broader perspective on what may and may not realistically be accomplished. Naturally, any such plan will of necessity be less than ideal.

History amply indicates that our species is NOT perfectible.

I hope the congress critters are making that same effort, and not merely allowing sentiment ad expediency to sway their decisions. If they fail to adopt a REALISTIC policy –– i.e. one that is BOUND to disappoint, cause consternation, and probably anger a great many people –– they will accomplish nothing of practical value at all.

Let's go back to the option for catastrophic health insurance -- particularly for those who can afford the high deductible.

At the same time, we must understand that not everyone can afford a high deductible. With ObamaCare, the truly affordable policies have an unaffordable deductible. When the deductible and maximum out of pocket payments for a patient are unaffordable, medical bankruptcy ensues -- and Medicaid takes over.

Medicaid is taxpayer funded and reduces the disposable income of many taxpayers to the point that many taxpayers cannot afford good health insurance coverage. That's a death spiral for all of us!

"Medicaid is taxpayer funded and reduces the disposable income of many taxpayers ..."

And there you have presented a near-perfect paradigm illustrating the essence of Socialism. As has oft been said, it's a lovely idea, except for the absolute certainty that sooner or later we will run out of OTHER PEOPLES' MONEY –– and then we'll ALL be destitute.

The alternative to Medicaid, of course, is to abandon the poor entirely, and callously allow them to die DIE in the STREETS.

In man ways I would agree –– however fatuous your intentions probably were in making that statement –– but you've conveniently omitted the emergence and development of increasingly complex, sophisticated diagnostic tools, surgical procedures, and a greatly enlarged spectrum of therapies that did not exist in those halcyon days.

The handwriting has been in the wall in BIG RED LETTERS for several DECADES, yet we continue to turn a blind eye to it.

The problems you have described related to the medical care situation as it has evolved today are frankly KAFKA-ESQUE –– profoundly DYSTOPIAN –– a NIGHTMARE world completely unlike the secure, prosperous, comfortable, relatively benign atmosphere in which I was privileged to live during my formative years and young adulthood.

The reason why all these expensive treatments exist is because the government has been subsidizing and meddling in medicine for far too long. Yes, during war, they need to be able to treat battle wounds. After the war, they need to treat wounded veterans. But the government should NOT be involved in any way with the VAST MAJORITY of Americans, seniors included.

Soros –– and the INTERNATIONALISM he represents –– are a greater menace than Isam and Communism combined BECAUSE the Soros-type Control Freaks USE these anti-American movements to jockey THEMSELVES into positions of ever-increasing Power and Control.

The socialist republic of California is working on a State controlled single payer system. More reason they should withdraw from the Union.To have personal choice in insurance defeats everything the democrats believe in. People are stupid and the government knows best.Look at overwhelming success public education. You can't give people options because they may not support public schools and look what may happen to the inner cities schools. They may graduate students who have some knowledge and get a job. Only support laws you agree with and how dare we even think about prosecuting illegal's, that is discrimination.

You're right of curse, Skud. Just about everything the D'Rats do is hypocritical. They SAY their ideas promote better living and working conditions for the masses, but in truth their policies are REALLY designed to do everything possible to make sure D'Rats –– and the institutions they've created largely to benefit THEMSELVES remain intact.

D'Rats are crazy in love with POWER. They want above all to put themselves in positions that enable them to boss YOU and ME around.

Ocare and now calcare is all about rerouting that Health Ins money through the failed government. dem administrations always fail at economics and so they turn to grossly abusing the public to support their failed systems.

Because it would never occur to those of us who lean right to impede and/or physically assault someone who held different views. Did we block the crazy ladies who march? Do we riot when a libtard is going to give a speech? Did we burn, or stomp on American Flags? Do we carry around signs with vulgar language and wear sexually explicit costumes? Do we smash windows, flip over cars, and burn down buildings when we become a wee bit pissed off?

Do you remember all the Violence that broke out at that- and Anti-Trump Rally in Berkeley?I wish I could have said that I was surprised; but I wasn’t! That is exactly what fascism looked like. The burning of American flags, the thugs beating up anyone that opposed them. The Berkeley police were there to spot any Trump supporter doing something stupid enough to be arrested for and to haul them off to jail.

It is the very reason I doubt we're going to be ready for what's heading toward us in the way of civil discord. If we can't imagine Trump Supporters acting out in such a manner, it's hard, if not impossible, to imagine anyone else doing so. It doesn't take very many paid protesters to rile up a crowd of useful idiots. It's happened before and it will happen again.

I'm going to step out on a limb here and state that I believe Trump knew from day one that he was being tapped . This is not Obama’s first bull ride in such a rodeo, remember his siccing the IRS on the Tea-Party members, Targeting Conservative Groups, and on anyone who gave donations to a Jewish organization! Americans were targeted by the IRS because of their political beliefs is unconscionable. And it was all blamed on Lois Lerner, who headed the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups.! But you can be sure that Loris learner did just wake up one morning and decide to do all that by herself, you can but that Obama was behind the entire thing. Organizations were singled out because they included the words “Tea Party”, “Patriot”, or “Israel” in their applications for tax-exempt status. That alone should have been enough to round up anyone involved and to be hand cuffed and throw in jail. And people were wondering if the Obama administration was corrupt? And they wonder why Hillary lost! She lost because she was the worst, most corrupt, scandal ridden candidate the Democrats could find.

So let's just hope Jeff Sessions does NOT resign, no matter how nasty, and noisy the left gets, and they will but he just better stay the course.

It has become obvious to the American people that the Democrat party, in conjunction with the Clinton's and/or the Obama's, are organized and their strategy is to subvert our government members who were duly elected by the people.

Therefore, I am asking you and Congress, to initiate a full and independent investigation into the DNC, The Democrat Party, Barack Hussein Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Elizabeth Warren, Tom Perez, Debbie Wasserman Schulz, Charles Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Keith Ellison, and others to rule out an organized and well funded attempt at a coup acting against the integrity of the US Constitution and our sitting President of the United States.

Within this thorough investigation I demand to know the source of the funding by private entities, businesses, or foundations. I would like to know if George Soros or any of his affiliated foundations is a contributor. If so, I want to see some concise action taken against him legally, criminally, and financially.

Subversion. 1 : the act of subverting : the state of being subverted; especially : a systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system by persons working secretly from within.

Elections have consequences. So do subversive measures such as obstruction and anarchy.Thank you for your time.

A Gallup survey finds that 43 percent of voters approve of Trump's performance as president, up from 38 percent on Feb. 16. Meanwhile, 50 percent disapprove of his performance as president, down from the 56 percent who disapproved on Feb. 16.

Everyone who voted for Trump knew we had a velvet coup on our hands. We knew the congress were elite whores needing to be re-elected {"Confessions of Congressman X"]. We knew they were flooding the country with non-assimilating indentured servants not only for cheap labor, but to wreck our culture. We knew globalist and bribed RINOs were spinning the "invasion" as an "act of love."

We knew the media is forever a democrat tool [though not "ordered" to be by Obama]. We knew the universities are forever grinding out self-loathing white perverts, with sneering biases, and not much character.

We know this is not changing soon. Its tenured in. Its squirreled in. Everything comes down to politics. So what was the hope of Trump to patriots? in addition to winning, and fighting, and his tea-totalling character, it is that he has a blessing of Christ on him.

So God is going to bless "His people" and others who have turned from their wicked ways. Even as we note this is an era where millions are offended, and have "fallen away." Maybe, if you can believe it, a Pope.

So God heard the II Chronicles 7:14 prayers. Now there has to be a REVIVAL of traditional Christian values for Trump to succeed. POTUS should call for a NATIONAL DAY OR WEEK OR MONTH OF PRAYER AND FASTING. He should ask the clergy to do the same. While the heathen rage. Obama [a Christian to the non-Christian media] said "We are not a Christian country anymore". This lie needs to be fixed. By Trump. Now.

Gratuitous Displays of Extraneous Knowledge Offered Not To Shed Light Or Enhance the Discussion, But For The Primary Purpose Of Giving An Impression Of Superiority are obnoxiously SELF-AGGRANDIZING, and therefore, Subject to Removal at the Discretion of the Censor-in-Residence.